Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-21
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
In many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays.
What is the value of long school holidays?
What are the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In the present era, many elementary and seconday education schools of different countries are providing the large number of school holidays, especially in summer and winter seasons.There has been a growing concern about this factor, that this prolonged period is benefical for student or not. And, either it should be reduced. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Nowadays, many European countries has implemented a new law regarding their education policy, which is like they will close their institutions for more than two months in the winter period. Owing to this, students get a benefits to focus on their Co-curricular activities in their leisure time. For example, activities such as basketball, football and other recreational things will improve their cognitive and physical abilities. They can utilise this period for travelling with their family members and learn about different cultures. It will give them an opportunity to explore their creativity, like in which other subjects they are interested and how they can improve their skills and knowledge. It could be very beneficial for the secoundary group students, they can get a part time job opportunities or they can participates in some events, where they get to learn about volunteering and time management skills.
On the other hand, it
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the context surrounding shorter ones, but it is incomplete because the essay cuts off mid-sentence in the final paragraph. Furthermore, the length requirement of 250 words is not met, as the student's response contains only 207 words. This under-length severely restricts the development of ideas, particularly regarding the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays. While the student outlines some benefits of long holidays in the second paragraph, the overall task coverage remains partial due to the truncation of the essay. Consequently, the score is limited.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay demonstrates some logical organisation, attempting an introduction, a body paragraph on benefits, and the start of a counter-argument. However, the abrupt ending severely impacts the overall progression. Cohesive devices are used in places, such as 'Owing to this', 'For example', and 'On the other hand', but referencing and logical flow are occasionally awkward, as seen in the fragmented opening sentences like 'And, either it should be reduced.' Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph is incomplete. Overall arrangement shows a coherent start, but mechanical referencing and the lack of a completed second body paragraph and conclusion prevent a higher band.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'co-curricular activities', 'cognitive and physical abilities', and 'volunteering'. However, there are notable errors in word choice, spelling, and collocation. For instance, 'seconday education schools' contains a spelling error, 'providing the large number of school holidays' is unnatural collocation, and 'secoundary group students' contains both spelling and phrasing errors ('secondary school students'). Despite these inaccuracies, communication is rarely impeded, and the vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as 'students get a benefits' (article and noun agreement), 'many European countries has implemented' (subject-verb agreement), and 'where they get to learn' (informal phrasing). Punctuation and article usage also need refinement. Because the essay is truncated, the range of structures demonstrated is limited, and frequent errors persist, though they do not completely obscure the intended message.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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